Aftermarket Add-Ons Will Make Any Car Smarter, for a Price

When we talk about driverless cars, we're often starting with the concept of a whole-package model — such as Google's now famous laser-and-sensor prototype — one that's already navigating selected routes in California. But there's another frontier in the technology-driven space of advanced driving systems, and it's starting to make inroads in the aftermarket.

Witness the emergence of add-ons such as Cruise Automation's RP-1 radar-based advanced driver assist system (ADAS) — it actually takes control of a conventional car in specific and limited ways — and also Safe Drive System's Premier system and anti-collision technology from Mobileye.

Among the tech coming to market that can be added to cars after they're already on the road, each of these innovations suggests a future — perhaps a near future — in which operators can graft elements of the smart- and driverless-vehicle experience onto their present-day equipment. And so, taking a closer look, let's consider what this aftermarket technology does, and what it stands to change about driving, going forward.

Technology Now: Innovations in the Aftermarket Space

Aftermarket options in the smart-car milieu posit a future in which drivers don't have to wait for Google's — or Nissan's, or Audi's, or Toyota's or any others' — thoroughly driverless vehicles to be ready. They can take part in at least a segment of the journey toward tomorrow's roadways, now.

And advanced smart-car tech intended for the aftermarket might fill in another gap as well — one that owners of older cars will almost certainly face when manufacturer-installed tech becomes common in the marketplace (sometime around 2025, experts suggest).

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"I think you're going to start seeing these aftermarket products, particularly if the price is reasonable," said Egil Juliussen, director and analyst of automotive technology at IHS Technology, regarding that vision of the future.

"In the U.S., there are 250 million cars, right now, and that will be a slightly higher number in 10 years — so there will be space for this kind of aftermarket: products for the previous cars that don't have it built in by the auto manufacturers; that's what you're seeing in the driver-assist, or the ADAS (advanced driver assist) type" of technology.

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To that end, the following designs are poised to be delivered to consumers sooner rather than later. They deal with how an automobile navigates and co-exists in operation with other cars — ideas that are critical to the conversation surrounding the future of smart and connected vehicles.

Premier System RD-140 RDR (Safe Drive Systems): Starting with bumper-mounted radar, Premier is "a system that employs radars to monitor the distance from other vehicles, bicycles or other moving objects, and alert the driver when it detects that their vehicle is about to get too close," said Jordan Perch, car tech expert at DMV.com. "The system sends visual and audio warnings to the driver, so that they can react in time and make a swerve or brake in order to avoid a collision." And while, at speeds greater than 37 miles per hour, the bumper radar checks for objects at a rate of 20 scans per second, the next level of the system — Premier Plus RD-140 — offers additional sensors, these tuned to lane departures. According to Consumer Reports, the Premier System retails for $1,100, and Premier Plus sells for $1,700.

Forward Collision Warning System (Mobileye): From a company already working on auto-braking systems with manufacturers such as BMW, the Mobileye Forward Collision Warning aims to alert aftermarket operators with enough time to act — helping to avoid an imminent crash in any car. Employing an LCD screen in the cabin, FCW monitors what's in front of the vehicle via a rearview-mounted camera. It measures distance, relative speed and relative acceleration in connection with objects outside the automobile. It then issues audio and visual warnings up to 2.7 seconds before a collision occurs. According to Perch, at DMV.com, FCW sells for $900.

Cruise RP-1 (Cruise Automation): Representing what might be one envelope for this kind of aftermarket tech, Cruise Automation's car-top sensor pod — a suite of cameras, radar and other devices — promises something close to hands-free driving. Its on-board CPU makes decisions on the fly, integrated into the steering and speed-control systems so that, within a given lane, your vehicle will proceed safely. RP-1 won't change lanes for you, but it will make sure that your car adjusts to continue without incident in the lane you already occupy.

If that sounds like the future, drivers, note that you have to be in the right place — and the right car — to take advantage of it. The system presently works with only Audi's A4 and S4 models from 2012 and later, and for the moment, it's only built to operate on Cruise Automation's mapped major highways in California. Slated for 2015, the retail package is expected to command $10,000. The company is taking reservations for $1,000 down.

Beyond the consumer, Juliussen also sees a separate application for aftermarket smart- and driverless-car technology — especially in the military, industrial, and other campus-based and specialized environments. Bringing aftermarket to existing vehicles in those spaces could create a new type of certification and/or insurance benefit for companies that can show improvements to elements such as worker safety via the systems they introduce.

"Confined and restricted spaces like that, I think you're going to see these earlier," Juliussen said. "Military vehicles, in general, they're going to want an aftermarket product. They're not going to want to redo all their [vehicle stock]."

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As for eventual adoption by consumers, equations of state and federal legislation and regulation still loom large. How to make all of this work in a universal and integrated fashion, across all states?

"They almost have to wait until the rules, and how you use these on the road," are set, said Juliussen. "But on the other hand, having these out there now might just kick-start or accelerate the legislators and the lawyers who are looking into it. So, I'm really curious how these companies will do, and where it goes. It could be quite interesting."

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